


Frequencies

by DarkrystalSky



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Work Up For Adoption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-22
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-18 14:07:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13101783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkrystalSky/pseuds/DarkrystalSky
Summary: In her last moments of consciousness, she’s quick to realize the Umbrastaff is trembling in her hands: she really didn’t consider what would happen if thedefeated power userwas her. So, weakly and with a pang of sadness, she snaps the magic artifact in half before it can absorb her spectral form.





	Frequencies

_There's something here that’s broken_  
_There's something here with no end_  
_It's paralyzed_  
_It's in your eyes_  
_Cause I can feel your soul fade_  
_I can feel your heart change_  
_It falls out of phase with mine_  
  
**Frequency - Starset**

* * *

When Cyrus Rockseeker stabs her, Lup knows with a sense of finality that her days amongst the living are over for good. This world is their last stop and she won’t be able to regenerate her body, she will have to live the rest of her existence as a lich and- _oh, gods, this will destroy them_ . In her last moments of consciousness, she’s quick to realize the Umbrastaff is trembling in her hands: she really didn’t consider what would happen if the _defeated power user_ was her. So, weakly and with a pang of sadness, she snaps the magic artifact in half before it can absorb her spectral form.

 

 

After the ordeal, she leaves her corpse and material possessions behind and heads outside, looking for the Starblaster roughly in the same area that she left it, floating above the skies of Neverwinter. She will have to tell the others where her body is, and ask to retrieve her possessions as she can’t bring herself to go back and retrieve them herself.

 

 

And so she flies home, spectral and coated in darkness and raw magic, invisible to the eyes of most folks, feared by those who can feel her presence. She flies to Neverwinter and then _up_ and _up_ and pierces through the clouds for miles before realizing that the ship is nowhere to be found. At the beginning, this only puzzles her, but she has no reason to think the worst. It’s been a few months, maybe Davenport decided it was time for a change of scenery and flew away or maybe they landed and started building normal lives.

 

 

She wanders, listening in to the tales of travellers for any rumor of a white shape flying in the skies of Faerun, but she’s dumbstruck when she realizes that the raging war of the last two years is _over_ . It’s not just over, it’s ignored, forgotten. She initially rejoices: the others managed to hide the relics in a way that stopped the continuous bloodshed, they followed her example and left them well hidden and unobtainable. She looks forward to reuniting with her crew, her friends, her family and have a proper celebration - a voice in the back of her head whispers that she will never be able to taste Taako’s food ever again and the thought breaks her heart - , but in the following months she keeps wandering aimlessly, unable to find the ship and she feels her form falter, until she finally hears her brother’s name on a stranger’s lips and she’s revitalized, zooming through the Evermoors to a city called SIlverymoon where she follows her heart - and her sense of smell - until she spots a crowd surrounding a huge stagecoach painted with the words _Sizzlin’ it up with Taako_ , and her brother is right there: beaming, joking and cooking in front of people who are absolutely _delighted_ when he puts on a show of transmutation magic, turning grass into spices as he drops them into the stew.

 

 

Lup’s heart swells with every single one of her brother’s grins, as she keeps herself hidden and invisible. _She almost wants to pop up in the middle of a crowd just to see his reaction_ but she knows the consequences of that would be more harmful than not, so she waits. She waits until the show is over and night falls and the crowd disperses, she waits until Taako’s assistant, an half elf whose name she didn’t quite pay attention to, goes to sleep in the back of the wagon. Taako’s still cooking, experimenting new recipes for his next show, and Lup suppresses a giggle as she makes herself corporeal enough to be seen and pops out in front of him. “Booh!” she wails, making her voice echo and distort, and Taako drops the spatula he was holding in her hands.

 

 

It’s not the first time she exploited her lich form to take her brother - or any other member of her crew - by surprise. Magnus’ reaction was usually to punch, and it was hilarious, especially when his fist connected with nothing and he lost his balance to fall on his face.

 

 

Taako’s reaction varied, from dramatic fainting to sharp replies, but she was never really able to take him by suprise. So, when he freezes, she’s initially delighted by her first success, but her happiness is short lived: Taako is pale and backs away slowly, hand frantically reaching for his wand.

 

 

“Taako?” she calls, dropping the spooky echo. “What’s wrong?”

 

 

He gulps and looks around in confusion. “Well,” he smiles nervously, “I have to admit, I never met an _undead_ fan. That’s what you are, right? A fan?”

 

 

If she had a face to speak of, Lup would have raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? It’s me, Ļ͏u̢p̸̢͟!҉ ̶̴͘͠I̸̛͜͜t͜͝’̛͟s͏ ̷̷͘͏͟y̸̕҉o͏҉ư̕r̨͟ ̕͟҉̧s̷̛͝͞i̷͟s̸̴̴̨͞t͝҉̵̕e̷͜͡r̵̛͝, doofus!”

 

 

“I don’t speak eldritch, dude!” he backs away again, towards the exit door, and when Lup extends a skeletal hand towards him, he just darts outside and starts preparing the horses to leave. Lup shakes, the boundaries of her physical form shaking as she fades back into the Ethereal Plane. She would cry if only she had eyes to cry with, but she makes an effort and steadies herself, recalling the memories of her journey, of the best day ever…

 

 

She rises. She follows. She watches as Taako back outside is waking up his assistant and leaving, glancing nervously behind his shoulders as Lup is invisible once again.

 

 

Lup cannot comprehend what has happened, as she follows the stagecoach from a distance: a small part of her still hopes this is all part of a bad joke, but Taako of all people would never call her _dude_ , not even as a joke. He knows better. He should know better.

 

 

In the next few days, she stucks to him, invisible or out of line of sight when she notices him casting True Sight: he knows she’s around, no doubt he can feel her presence, no matter how much she tries to smother the necrotic aura her form emanates. He keeps smiling around strangers, performing his show and enjoying his fame, but it takes Lup a few days to realize there is something _disturbingly_ wrong in the way he uses magic.

 

  
He’s limited to Cantrips and First Level Spells, and he uses them clumsily, hiding his clumsiness behind a show of light and movements. He’s broken, he’s hurt. Lup’s first thought after realizing this is one and only one: _she’ll make the one who reduced her brother in such a state pay_.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a discontinued fic I started before "to play the fool". I never got to continue it, and several ideas I had for the plot pooled into my current project instead. This AU 'verse is up to adoption if you want to roleplay or continue it, because I never will, but I still wanted to share it since I'm travelling and I wasn't able to finish a proper chapter of TPTF today.


End file.
